A good friend of mine and a die-hard Clippers fan has a family tragedy. Their youngest son, a lifelong Clipper fan declared he is now a Golden State Warrior fan. Despite widespread household opposition to this tragic moment, it took them some time to digest and understand this move. I think I get it now as well, as even though I don’t like Basketball and don’t follow it, there is an allegory to real life here.

The kid is tired of losing. He’s tired of the season ending after one or two rounds in the playoffs. I think I get it, he wants to follow his team all the way into June. I’ve seen the light. Few are like me, that will stick with a team like the Raiders, despite withering criticism from sissy bandwagon jumping Niner Fans, mentally ill Charger Fans and of course the most decrepit Patriot fans. (Chiefs and Broncos are a combination of the previous… hopefully everyone reading is offended now)

No one likes a loser, which leads me to the California Republican Party’s Clipper problem.

Trying to understand the new “registered voter” numbers, I’m puzzled. How could a state, so red when I was young, now be so blue? Simple. California republicans are losers and no one likes a loser. Having been around the CAGOP for 20 years, I’ve seen it first hand. I call it controlled failure.

We lose everything. We lose vote battles in the capitol, we lose presidential elections, we lose ballot measures and we even lose statewide office elections. And we have for some time. And when we win, like Prop 8, the Democrats make us lose.

After so much losing, like the kid abandoning our Clippers, Republican voters have abandoned our party and chosen to be independent. Who wants to be associated with a loser? Not more than 30% of the electorate. Apparently, a lot in leadership like losing. It has become crystal clear to me that a ton of people in leadership understand that failure does not matter as election after election – the consultant class still get paid and the handful of Republicans in safe seats stay there. As long as they are one of the chosen few remaining GOP electeds, that is the most important.

Many point to Pete Wilson as the reason for our losses and his position on illegal immigration, but he left office almost 20 years ago. I find it hard to fathom that actions in the last millennium still impact our votes. The electorate in our country has the attention span of a gnat, so is Wilson really the reason? He’s certainly an easy scapegoat, similar to the national democrats and their lackeys in the media pushing the “Russia Did It Lie” to cover for their humiliation at the ballot box in 2016.

As our party leaders have attempted to become “Republican light” and separate themselves from Washington Republicans, it’s clear, voters don’t know who the Republicans are. Our state republicans seem confused too. When our conservative anti-tax legislators vote for tax increases they appeared to have lost the compass. There is no party unity in the state capitol, in our central committees or on our neighborhood blocks. No one knows who we are.

However, many of those at the top of leadership are content to see the tent shrink as it becomes easier to control.

When the platform of the Republican party is clear, our state party leaders should stand up for that platform and fight for it. Instead, our state leaders throw the ball to the other team and help them score. For instance, last month, Assembly GOP leadership tweeted acknowledgment of Harvey Milk Day, and outraged core Republicans. Sure, he may be working to find middle ground, but does he really need to hail a king of the opposition?

Prior to that, Assembly minority leader Chad Mayes tweeted his pleasure and excitement in appearing with assembly speaker at an event saying, “any time I get to hang with @Rendon63rd I’m in.” Can you imagine someone like Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer saying that about the leaders in their chambers?

The ability of Republicans to just flop over and take what’s coming is absurd. I’m ashamed of the behavior and disgusted that no one has stood up to fight.

When Democrats forcefully removed Senator Janet Nguyen from the State Capitol earlier this year, there was no party outrage, no unified action among our elected officials and no repercussion for the super majority democrats. What happened to the fight? It was left to a rag-tag bunch of keyboard commandos with little action from the GOP leaders within the building.

The state republicans seem to have taken on the position of the Obama administration foreign policy, that essentially said, if we don’t upset anyone, no one will bother us. Well I’m getting tired of it. We abhor Obama but act just like him. We quote Reagan, and act nothing like him.

There are some very good and strong leaders, but with just three or four shining stars, who can wannabe Republicans relate to and follow? And by follow, I don’t mean on Twitter, I mean, actually follow. Who wants to lead us? Who will take the torch of our party in this state and lead. Genuinely. We need a hero and we need one bad.

This is the thesis for why I endorsed John Cox. He is a disruptor, he is not one of “them”, yet the leadership of controlled failure can not stop trying to find a spoiler just to keep Cox out of the fall 2018 runoff. I am convinced this is the nexus. It is similar to the near panic that ensued after Super Tuesday in 2016 when Donald Trump solidified his grasp on front-runner status. Now that John Cox has gone in for $3 Million of his own money, there is a near melt-down in insider circles.

Back to my Raiders. For 15 years, almost no one had Raiders stuff on their cars or bodies. When I’d see someone, there was a camaraderie, like a Pyrrhic victory through team loyalty… as we kept losing. Unlike the CAGOP, when the Raiders figured out how to draft good players again, they did not go out to find another Quarterback to compete with Derek Carr… they moved on to other positions on the field. (see also Lt. Gov, Sec of State, etc…)

And, much like the Clippers who announced recently an intention to build a new stadium and an effort to re identify who they are, the Republicans need to abandon their current state, re-identify, and start fighting. I don’t want any more Sesame Street from my Republican politicians I want more “House of Cards” (without the felonies). I want to see strategy. Fore-thought. Offense. I want brains. I don’t want my Republican party to play dead any longer.

Now, I see Raiders stuff everywhere and the annoying Niner crap I saw for years is few and far between. The same thing will happen if the CAGOP surrenders control and starts leading, people will be wearing their stuff again as well.

Yes, Republicans need to be more like Democrats, but not in the policy realm. California Republicans need to fight like Washington democrats and recognize they are indeed in a fight. Behave like it. And start winning. Just like the Clippers, our Republicans need to start winning, so everyone can start cheering, again.

2 Responses to “What can the CAGOP learn from the LA Clippers? Or the Raiders for that matter…”

Aaron, biggest reason you left out…OPEN PRIMARIES. The CRP leadership (notably 2010) were idiots on that one and the damage is done and likely irreversible. Now we can’t even get our candidates on the fall ballot….(Last US Senate race is prime example) If more than one Republican runs for office in a race, splitting the vote, the Dems win by default….